Episode Number
124
Episode Show Notes / Description
Canada goose (Branta canadensis).
The big boisterous goose at every neighborhood pond.
Voice of the Wild is a podcast about wildlife and the wild sounds they make.
The following Cornell Lab | Macaulay Library recordings were used in this episode:
- Canada Goose group altercation by Gregory Budney (ML505416)
- Canada Goose single calls by Arthur A. Allen (ML505425)
Sources and more:
- Cornell’s All About Birds
- Audubon
- Cornell’s Birds of the World
- Peterson field guide to the birds (Fourth edition)
- Sibley Birds East
Transcript
This is Brodie with Illinois Extension and I’m here with a new “voice of the wild”
This familiar honk belongs to a bird that was once a symbol of the beauty of the natural world and a marker of the change of season; their flocks flying overhead in v-formations that can combine into enormous skeins that span the horizon. Given their numbers today it might be hard to believe they were once nearly extirpated from the Midwest. This is the Canada goose.
While once rare, the subspecies of the Canada goose that was reintroduced across their former range has taken to it in a remarkable way. The proliferation of little ponds surrounded my mowed grass combined with the ready supply of calories in the form of waste grain in nearby agricultural fields, has created the perfect year-round environment for these big birds. So now, not only are they very common in the nature reserves where once you could only hope to see one, they’re now common residents in the tiny ponds that dot our cities and towns. some populations are even becoming non-migratory. For better and worse, the Canada goose reintroduction has been very successful
Thank you to the Macaulay library at the Cornell lab for today’s sound. Learn more about voice of the wild at go.illinois.edu/VOW
This familiar honk belongs to a bird that was once a symbol of the beauty of the natural world and a marker of the change of season; their flocks flying overhead in v-formations that can combine into enormous skeins that span the horizon. Given their numbers today it might be hard to believe they were once nearly extirpated from the Midwest. This is the Canada goose.
While once rare, the subspecies of the Canada goose that was reintroduced across their former range has taken to it in a remarkable way. The proliferation of little ponds surrounded my mowed grass combined with the ready supply of calories in the form of waste grain in nearby agricultural fields, has created the perfect year-round environment for these big birds. So now, not only are they very common in the nature reserves where once you could only hope to see one, they’re now common residents in the tiny ponds that dot our cities and towns. some populations are even becoming non-migratory. For better and worse, the Canada goose reintroduction has been very successful
Thank you to the Macaulay library at the Cornell lab for today’s sound. Learn more about voice of the wild at go.illinois.edu/VOW